aging behind bars

December 9, 2019

End death by incarceration & advance parole justice—Join us on April 21

RSVP HERE to be part of a powerful movement to end the cruelty of permanent punishment.

• Photos: Walter Hergt • Here’s how it looked last time we gathered in Albany (on January 14, 2020) demanding that our elected officials end death by incarceration and advance parole justice. RAPP, the Parole Preparation Project and hundreds of others from across New York State mounted a Day of Action to pass Elder Parole (S.2144) and Fair and Timely Parole Act (S.497A). We marched, rallied, and met with dozens of New York State elected officials. Go to our Press page to read what the media had to say about the rally and the issues.

NOW WE’RE GOING BACK TWICE AS STRONG, and we need you to RSVP here to join us on April 21

WHY: New York State has the eighth highest rate of people serving a life sentence in the country—roughly 9,200 people. More than 1,000 of them are serving Life Without Parole or virtual life without parole—with a minimum sentence of 50 years—sentences. 75 percent are People of Color.

Long and life sentences combined with few opportunities for release have created a crisis of aging, sickness and death in New York State prisons. There are now more than 10,000 people in NYS prisons—20% of the prison population—aged 50 or older; most are Black and Latinx. While the prison population in NYS fell by 27% between 2000 and 2016, the number of incarcerated older people more than doubled. Older people, especially those who have been convicted of the most serious crimes, pose little if any risk to public safety. In fact, when released, many formerly incarcerated older people engage in work that enhances public safety and community health.

To begin to scale back long and life sentences in New York State, promote the release of long-serving incarcerated older people, and reunite families and communities, New Yorkers across the state are pushing for two pending legislative initiatives:

Fair & Timely Parole (S.497A): A bill that would change the parole release process in New York State ensure that people are evaluated for release based on who they are today and not their crime of conviction.
Elder Parole (S.2144): A bill that would allow people aged 55 or older who have served 15 or more years in prison a chance at release, regardless of their sentence or crime of conviction.

Both these bills made some progress in the 2019 state legislative session, but never made it to the floor for a vote. That’s why we need to be up in Albany at the beginning of the new 2020 legislative session. Come with us to keep fighting for justice on April 21—and be part of the solution. RSVP HERE

MORE: Read more here about these bills and why we need them.

November 25, 2019

Article Highlights Parole Injustices: Why We Need Change

In their December 2, 2019 issue, The New Yorker magazine published “Prepping for Parole,” a 10,000-word article by Jennifer Gonnerman exposing some of the devastating problems with the New York State Parole Board. While we, the Parole Preparation Project, and so many others have pushed the Board to release more people from prison in recent years, they still continue to deny freedom to thousands of New Yorkers in prison and their families, and communities across New York State.

The article featured the incredible work our partners at Parole Prep do with currently incarcerated people serving parole-eligible life sentences. It also featured RAPP Director, Jose Saldana, RAPP co-founder Kathy Boudin, and the devastating story of Richard Lloyd Dennis, a currently incarcerated elder who the Parole Board has denied release to 13 times.

Richard Lloyd Dennis, currently incarcerated elder New Yorker. Photo courtesy of the New Yorker Magazine

“In May 2018, Dennis had been imprisoned longer than all but nine other men in New York State. If he had been convicted of killing anyone but a police officer, he likely would have been set free. Dennis appeared before the parole board for the thirteenth time on August 27th, 2019. Two days later, [Dennis’s Parole Preparation Project volunteer received the news], ‘He was denied.'”

This article helps tell the world what so many incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones have known for years: That the Parole Board still promotes a system of vengeance and punishment that fails to acknowledge peoples’ transformations behind bars. It’s another reminder of how urgent it is that New York State end life imprisonment and promote parole justice. It’s another reminder of why we need the legislature to pass Fair and Timely Parole (S.497A). It’s another reason why we need you to join us for two events to fight for parole justice: Tuesday, November 26, 12:30 pm, Foley Square – Rally to reunite families, promote parole justice, and bring hope for the holidays

And Tuesday, January 14, 2020, Albany – Mobilize to end death by incarceration and bring them home! March, rally, meet with elected officials, fight for parole justice

August 14, 2018

NYS Parole Board report shows justice still unfulfilled

August 14, 2018: Along with the Parole Preparation Project, RAPP today released our latest report, The New York State Parole Board: Failures in Staffing and Performance.

“No one can appreciate the importance of sitting in those rooms making liberty decisions except those who sit on either side of the table. I applaud your work. Staff shortages result in applicants seeing see the same commissioners again and again, and they never get a date.” —Barbara Treen, former commissioner, NYS Board of Parole

Over the past two years, RAPP and other advocates and community members have succeeded in winning some changes in the practices of the New York State Parole Board, so that some decisions are now based in rehabilitation and transformation—who a person is today, as opposed to who they were decades ago when their crime was committed. This has begun to bring the Board into line with the law and best practices advocated by criminal justice experts.

But these advances continue to be undercut by other trends in the Board, including understaffing and the presence of several commissioners who continue to resist practices based in rehabilitation. These commissioners enable powerful, reactionary law enforcement forces to interfere in release decisions, illegally turning parole-eligible sentences into de facto life without parole.

Our new report exposes the horrific practices of the New York State Parole Board and their impact on incarcerated people across New York State.

You can read more coverage of the report in the Daily News

February 20, 2018

The Missing Piece to End Mass Incarceration in New York

On February 12, the New York State Assembly announced a Criminal Justice Reform Package with some meaningful changes to New York’s criminal legal system on bail, discovery, speedy trial, and solitary confinement—important steps toward undoing the far-reaching damage of mass incarceration.

But a major element was missing: No bills on parole and elder release were included in the package. Mass incarceration in New York will never end unless the legislature and the governor initiate changes that get at the heart of the problem—the persistence of a racist culture of revenge and permanent punishment that keeps people in prison without meaningful access to release. Increasing parole releases, especially of older people who have served long terms for violent crimes, would be a step in this direction.

That may sound unlikely given that the prison population soared because politicians found it easy and popular to act “tough on crime.” The starting point? Increase punishment by pointing to people convicted of the most serious offenses—especially the crimes that make headlines. But now, we need policy makers to understand that what got us here won’t get us out.

To end mass incarceration, the legislature, the parole board, and the governor will need to end the cycle of permanent punishment. Releasing people who have spent decades in prison for a violent crime committed years ago, who have engaged in meaningful transformation and now pose minimal risk to public safety, would be a safe, cost-effective way to begin this process.

Here are some ways RAPP is urging them to do exactly that:

“Geriatric Parole:” Governor Cuomo has proposed legislation to expand New York’s medical parole program for incarcerated older people, instituting a medical parole plan for people age 55 and older with debilitating health conditions.

But the plan excludes some people based solely on the crime of conviction, such as anyone convicted of first-degree murder, no matter how ill or debilitated—and no matter how low the risk they pose to public safety. Engaging in a serious crime at a young age does not make an incapacitated elder a current threat to public safety. In fact, evidence shows that long-incarcerated elders convicted of murder actually pose the very lowest risk to public safety: in contrast to recidivism rates that generally hover in the 40% range, people in this group return to prison at rates around 1% and lower.

The governor’s exclusions should also make us question whether we want our society to deny compassion to whole sectors of people, guaranteeing that they will die in prison.

RAPP urges the governor and the legislature to strengthen the “geriatric parole” proposal by removing all restrictions based on crime of conviction, along with other language that allows the Parole Board to deny applicants solely because of the nature of the crime. The bill should also be strengthened to ensure that the medical criterion for eligibility is an individual’s ability to provide “self-care,” not “self-ambulation.” Finally, mechanisms that trigger and speed up the otherwise slow-moving certification process and ensure public transparency should be strengthened as well.

“If the Risk is Low, Let them Go”

The governor’s plan will shift rather than cut spending, especially as states, confronted with the Trump administration’s economic plans, will be forced to shoulder a larger proportion of spending on Medicaid and other public health costs.

What would truly save money—and promote public safety—would be real elder parole: a plan that presumptively releases people who have served more than their minimum terms and whose present—not past—behavior show that they pose little if any risk to public safety. Older people should be released before they are ill and dying, when they can still contribute to their families and communities. We urge the Assembly to pass A.7546, which ensures that an individual’s current risk to public safety determines parole release. Additionally, older people not otherwise eligible for parole should be given a “second look” and considered for parole at age 55 after serving at least 15 consecutive years in prison.

With older people now making up 21 percent of people in New York State prisons—10,337 total people, a number more than twice what it was in 2000— a bolder and more evidence-based proposal for elder parole should be the governor’s choice. Such a proposal will require Governor Cuomo to exercise political will and would make New York a true national leader in the struggle to end mass incarceration.

To get involved, check our events page or email nyrappcampaign@gmail.com

May 24, 2016

The Prison Population We Should Talk About Releasing

President Barack Obama has made reducing the prison population one of his top agenda items during his final term in office. – AP/David Goldman, JUSTICE

Given his recent granting of clemency to 58 prisoners, many of whom were serving time on federal drug offenses, the President has made it clear he doesn’t want non-violent drug offenders serving long sentences. He’s also made the case that reducing sentences for non-violent drug offenders is an important part of reform and cutting the financial cost of the U.S. criminal justice system.

But criminal justice researchers say that non-violent offenders are not the prison population we should be focusing on when it comes to long-term criminal justice reform.

“The president is significantly mistaken,” Stanford University Law Professor Robert Weisberg told ATTN:.

For successful long-term criminal justice reform, the U.S. needs to consider releasing violent offenders who are no longer dangerous, even those who have been convicted of murder, said Weisberg, who is also the co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center.

“The percentage of people who have committed non-violent drug offenses is not that many to be the solution for criminal justice reform,” said Weisberg.

Of the U.S. prison population, only 17 percent of inmates in 2010 were incarcerated for primary drug offenses, according to research by Fordham University Professor John Pfaff. He wrote in research published in 2015 that the focus should be on violent crime not primary drug offenders.

“The policy implications here are clear,” Pfaff wrote. “Reducing the admissions of drug offenders will not meaningfully reduce prison populations.”

This does not mean that addressing prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses isn’t important, but Pfaff said that those offenses should not be the only focus and they don’t make up the majority of people in prison.

People who have committed drug offenses make up more of the new admissions to prisons, but nearly half of inmates incarcerated are there for violent crimes, according to the Brookings Institute.

Basically, the research suggests that if we want to effectively reduce the 2.2 million people in the U.S. prison population, we have to consider releasing violent offenders.

But aren’t all violent offenders dangerous to the public?

Actually, there’s research that suggests a significant amount of them are not.

Weisberg said that violent offenders middle aged and older who committed a crime in their 20’s and 30’s tend to age out of their crime.

Elderly Prisoners

“The most interesting example of people who should be considered for release and unquestionably committed violent crimes, but are not dangerous anymore, are elderly people,” said Weisberg.

A 2011 report by the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, which followed 860 California murderers released since 1995, found that only five of the murderers were convicted of new felonies in the 15 years after release. None of them returned to prison for “life-term” crimes. That’s a 1 percent rate of return to prison for the murderers in this study compared to the nearly 50 percent return to California state prison for the broader prison population.

So why were these murderers so well-behaved after their release?

Age is mostly likely the reason. Not only are most violent crimes committed by people under 30, but even the criminal behavior that continues after that age declines drastically after age 40 and even more so after age 50, according to the report. The average age in the 2011 study for California inmates serving life in prison who were granted parole was 49.9 years old. This suggests that by the time these “lifers” made parole, they had “aged out” of the violent stage in their lives.

However living in the outside world after a prison sentence is not easy. After a recent increase in parolee releases under California Gov. Jerry Brown, and an uptick in returns to jail for some of those parolees, some wondered whether former inmates are prepared to be successful. “We’re talking about people with track records of the most serious and violent crime … and we’re saying, ‘Good luck out there, do well,'” Christine Ward, executive director of Crime Victims Action Alliance, told the Los Angeles Times.

Former inmates struggle to find jobs, have a higher likelihood of divorce, and their children have a higher rate of mental health problems and school drop out rates, according to the Obama administration.

Weisberg said the difficulty of navigating society with a criminal record could contribute to re-offenses.

“It’s plausible the longer you keep someone in prison, the longer you’re wrecking their chances for legal life on the outside,” he said.

February 12, 2016

3 Steps To Parole Justice in New York

Shock waves continue to spread from the August suicide of John MacKenzie in his 40^th year behind bars and following his 10^th parole denial. At the August meeting of the New York State Board of Parole, the chairperson read an angry letter blaming the Board for John’s death.

Fueled by our grief for John’s death, we must now push forward and make a change. It is time to get the Board to release our elders, our family members, the thousands of people in New York prisons who have served well beyond their minimum terms, who pose no threat to public safety, but who remain in the tombs of our state because the Board denies their parole applications every two years.

Those denials, after all, are what killed John.

Urgent, Right Now: Comment on New Parole Board Regulations

Reacting to years of pressure from the public, the NYS Board of Parole has published new draft regulations to guide release decisions. The new version is designed to correct a major fault in the current regs, which ignore a 2011 law directing the Board to base decisions on risk and needs assessments—evidence-based tools that help predict a person’s future actions.

Some of the proposed changes to the regulations may provide greater protections to parole applicants. Specifically, the proposed changes require commissioners to consider risk assessment scores, as well as age (for people who were under 18 at the time of the crime and face a life sentence), with more purpose and intention than is current practice. In the same spirit, the new regulations also require that in their denials, commissioners must give “factually-individualized” reasons for their conclusions.

But the proposed regulations do not fundamentally change the structure or methods of the Parole Board. The rules are not explicit and clear in making sure that the Board assesses applicants based on their current risk, rehabilitation, and readiness for release. As such, the regulations could result in a continuation of the Board’s current practice: refusing to release people from prison even when they pose a low risk of endangering public safety and are undeniably suitable for release. THIS sample comment, which you can use in submitting your own, explains this more fully.

The Board needs to hear from us—incarcerated people, family members, community organizations and individuals who care about justice and want to see the prison population decrease.

Click here for instructions on submitting comments.
Click here for suggested points to include.
Click here to read the Parole Board’s draft regulations.

Read comments filed by:
RAPP
Center for Appellate Litigation
NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm, 25th District Queens
National Lawyers Guild New York City Chapter
Community Service Society
New York State Bar Association Committee on Civil Rights
Quinnipiac University School of Law
Christopher Seeds, Attorney at Law
Milk Not Jails
Kathy Manley , Attorney at Law
Brooklyn Defender Services
Legal Aid Society and Prisoners’ Rights Project
Correctional Association of New York
Brooke Taylor
Claude Marks/Freedom Archives
Daniel McGowan
Glenn Martin/Just Leadership USA (JLUSA)
Prince Shabazz
Michael Gauthier
Ryan Barbur
NahShon Jackson
Jeffrey Bernstein
José Garcia
John Curry
Rise & Shine Community Services, Inc.
Mark Dixon
Donnell Deberry
Roslyn Smith
George Hill
Robert Rose
Issa Kohler-Hausmann, PhD, JD; Avery Gilbert, JD; Christopher Seeds, JD
Richard Hontoria
Annette Ross
Kevin Mays
The Osborne Association/Elizabeth Gaynes
Dwight James
Adrian Lopez
Alberto Rivera
Moira Meltzer Cohen, Esq.
New York State Prisoner Justice Network
Aaron Talley
Alejo Rodriguez
Richard Robles
Nancy Jacot Bell
Prison Action Network
Elysa Vulpis-Zoccoli
April Ruiz
Aretta White
Blair Meyer
Parole Justice Committee of Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration
Brittany Blizzard
Cale Layton
Charles Bowman
Christine Lolisco
Chuck Culhane
Craig Stallone
Dawn Savarese
Connie Tusa
DeAnna Dawson
Center for Community Alternatives
CURE-NY/Deborah Bozydaj, President
Damaris Reina-Herbas
Donna M. Accettulli
Elaine Arsenault
Erobos Lamashtu
Felice Gelman
Duane Dimick
Roberto Pascal
Ben Al-Dijali
Andras Turcsan
Allen Moore
Jesse Shannon
Donovan Sampson
Errol Prince
Phillip Yates
Marvin Everett
Eddie Williams
Anthony Morgan
JoAnne Palmer
Ivy Yapelli
Joan Calcaterra
Joan Potter
Kerry Gant
Laura Rawls
Laurie Storm
James Morgan
Lisa Drapkin
Lisa Melendez
Liseli Haines
M.C. Wise
Luke Patterson
Nakayima Fennelly
Mike Cintron
Patricia Lydon
Patricia Seals
Patricia Thomas
Robin Love
Robin Schnell
Sarah Mills
Shannon Rodriguez
Shea Settimi
Sylvia Bernard
Sister Honora Kinney
Timothy Bustle
Gail Patrick
Misha Volf
Sandra Giles
Audrey Hawkins
Norm Allen
Karen Flynn
Steven Mangual
Susan Hass
Suzzette Miller
Thomas Answeeney
Rosalind Robinson
Linda King
Anne Lamb
Walter D
Jessaya Duvall
Tiffany Alexander
Sheila Bush-Robinson
Crystal Alexander
Johnny Cole
Diane Alexander
Janice Sutton
Lisa Alexander
Leida Rodriguez
Susan Putland
Mary Frances Burek and Pat Case
Lenwood Jackson
Philip Fernandez
Robert Rose III
Peter King
Luzcelenia Lamont
Lawrence Dotson
Robin Alpern
Sharyn Kerrigan
Bonnie Shoultz
Ashley Habermann
David Darshan
Pamela Darshan
Naveena Darshan
Richard Kuhn, Criminon
Diane Miller
Gladys Gonzalez
Mildred Gonzalez
Scott Paltrowitz
Lee Wengraf
James Edler
Evelyn Kennenwood
Vicki Fox
Edith Allen
Julia Long
Elizabeth Halloran
Theresa Kardos
Matthew Swagler
Jenise Britt
Lindsey Ricci
Julie Greenwood
Lauren Katzman
David McNamara
Wil Van Natta
Yusuf Ahmad
Michelle Spark
Victor Pate
Gerard Deighan
Kaylee Knowles
Valerie Linet
Leah Gitter
Rhys Mateo Klauser
Nicholas Scott
R’Keyah Klauser
Robert Klauser
Marcella Klauser
Tyrell Hodge
Donna Hodge
Monique Fernandez
Lorenzo Brooks
Bear Bonebakker
Jenny Romaine
Rima Fand
Rosy Galvan
Joanne Walsh
Lisa Ellin
Tracie Threatt
Karmen Cheng
Eugene Griffin
Robert Roth
Steve Garrett
Debbie Griffin
Eva Boodman
Mujahid Farid
Robert Watt
Emily Kaufman
Shoshana Brown
Sandra DePillo
Autumn Leo

These materials are suggestions—undoubtedly it is those most affected by parole who are the experts in its reform. However, we believe there is great power in sending a unified and consistent message. We can demand that the Parole Board create clear regulations to begin doing what Parole Boards should: release people for whom further incarceration serves no purpose—neither protecting public safety nor advancing personal growth and rehabilitation. With your help, we can work toward parole reform and help reunite people with their families and communities.

Comments can take the form of a letter, or even just a list. We encourage you to include your own personal stories of how you or your loved ones have been impacted by current parole policy, as well as criticisms of the current proposed regulations.

2: Remove Obstacle: Recalcitrant Commissioners

Improving the regulations would be an important step forward. But there is another obstacle to justice: some parole commissioners have shown themselves to be dead set against following any such changes. They deny parole release over and over, thumbing their noses at the law. There is no reason to believe that these commissioners will respect the new regulations any more than they have respected the 2011 law.

The Board’s practice will never improve with such commissioners in office. Therefore, we urge Governor Cuomo, who appoints the Board, to remove these commissioners now or refuse to reappoint them when their terms expire. Among the most recalcitrant Commissioners are G. Kevin Ludlow, Lisa Beth Elovich, Walter William Smith, and James B. Ferguson (all appointed by former Governor Pataki). Governor Cuomo, who is the ultimate authority for the Board, must tell them and all commissioners: Either follow the law or find another job.

Join the Fight for New Laws for Parole Justice

Two bills now before the New York State Legislature—the Safe and Fair Evaluation (SAFE) Parole Act (S.1728/A.2930), and Assembly Bill A,9960—would correct basic problems with New York’s parole practices. The Assembly bill (A.9960), for example, says:

…risk and needs assessments shall comprise presumptive evidence of the inmate’s risk of re-offense. Should the board choose to override such risk and needs assessments in deciding whether or not an inmate will iive and remain at liberty without violating the law, its decision must provide a detailed, individualized and nonconclusory statement as to its reasons for departing from the risk and needs assessment findings which shall be subject to judicial review. Such override decisions shall not be based solely on information relating to the instant offense and/or the pre-sentencing report for such offense.

Join RAPP, Parole Justice New York, and many other groups (more than 100 so far) in urging your representatives to pass these laws.

(Photo on homepage by Victoria Law)

June 30, 2015

NYC Community Boards Join Effort to Release Elders

RAPP organizer Mr. Al Tony Simon urges Queens Community Board 12 to support releasing elders from the NYS prison system (shown with CB 12 Chairwoman Adrienne Adams). Tess McRae, Editor of Southeast Queens Press (queenspress.com), wrote the story and took the photos:

RAPP Aims To Get The Elderly Out Of Prison

RAPP advocate Tony Simon addresses Community Board 12. Photo by Tess McRae

BY TESS McRAE

When a serious crime is committed and a young individual is sent to prison for decades, it’s hard to imagine them as a senior citizen living behind bars. But more often than not, men and women over the age of 50 sit and eventually die in prison, even if they haven’t posed a threat to society for years.

At the June Community Board 12 meeting, representatives from the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign called on members to support their goal in changing the parole system to “resolve the crisis of aging behind bars.”

“I just served 30 years, I came into the prison system in 1981 and was released in 2013, but I made a transition while in prison,” Tony Simon, a former inmate and RAPP advocate, said. “So many young people make mistakes in life, end up with long-term bids and change as they age. They become positive assets to society through making amends and redeeming themselves.”

RAPP was established in 2013 by Mujahid Farid, who was incarcerated for 33 years after being denied parole nine times.

“Many of these human beings have transformed their lives and developed skills and abilities they lacked before incarceration.” Farid writes. “They could be released from prison with no threat to public safety. Yet many are denied release, often for political reasons, and needlessly remain imprisoned into old age. These elders could return to their communities if current mechanisms such as parole and compassionate release were correctly utilized.

According to Simon, elders pose the lowest threat when released from prison. Individuals ages 65 and older have a one percent chance of returning to a life of crime. Meanwhile, younger parolees have a 40 percent chance of recommitting a crime.

RAPP states that it costs the state more to keep senior citizens in prison. The group reports an annual cost of $120,000 to $240,000 per inmate each year. The expenses include daily needs and medical expenses. In 2013, 213 elders died in prison, but only eight were let out on compassionate release.

“What is going on here seems like genocide in its own right,” Simon said.

Community District 12 is among the top 12 districts where former inmates are being released in. It is because of this, RAPP asked the board to support their activism and help them petition the state in creating more transparent parole procedures and increasing access to compassionate release.

“We seek fair and objective hearings for everyone who comes before the Parole Board,” the RAPP website reads. “We will not try to expand release opportunities for certain classes of offenses by denying opportunities for others. Instead, we insist that decisions be made on each person’s individual merits and experiences inside.”

In addition to advocating more of the aging prison population to qualify for compassionate release, RAPP is developing a pilot program to work with seniors in their reentry and reintegration into society.

Reach Editor Tess McRae at (718) 357-7400 ext. 123, tmcrae@queenspress.com or follow her on Twitter @tess_mcrae.

– See more at: http://queenspress.com/rapp-aims-to-get-the-elderly-out-of-prison/#sthash.hXKAIaPS.dpuf

End death by incarceration & advance parole justice—Join us on April 21

Article Highlights Parole Injustices: Why We Need Change

NYS Parole Board report shows justice still unfulfilled

The Missing Piece to End Mass Incarceration in New York

The Prison Population We Should Talk About Releasing

3 Steps To Parole Justice in New York

NYC Community Boards Join Effort to Release Elders

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